From Judges To Kings

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What friend encourages you to submit to God’s rule over your life?

The early history of Israel is portrayed in 3 books of the Bible (7).  Once settled in the Promised Land, Judges were anointed by God to help the Israelites resolve problems according to God’s expectations.  For several hundred years, the Israelites prospered when they submitted to God’s judges, but suffered when they rebelled against God’s rule.

Deborah was one of the judges used by God to guide Israel; from her story we learn that God uses women who submit to him, as well as men.   From the stories of Jephthah, Samson & Gideon we learn that God uses people in his service, only as long as they remain submitted to his rule over their lives.

During this period, we also learn of Ruth, a woman of humble faith who, though foreign-born, ultimately became an Israelite by marriage to Boaz, a man of humble faith.  King David would be a great-grandson of this godly couple.

Samuel presided over the transition from judges to kings in Israel.  Samuel was conceived late in life by his mother Hannah; the child was a blessing from God in response to Hannah’s faithful devotion.  Filled with gratitude, Hannah dedicated Samuel to God’s service, and he later succeeded his mentor Eli as judge over Israel.

In Samuel’s old age, the Israelites demanded a king to rule them.  Samuel warned of potential problems, but the people insisted.  So that his people would learn from their mistakes, God allowed Samuel to anoint Saul as Israel’s first king.   When Saul eventually began to ignore God, Samuel was told by God to anoint David as the next king.  David’s fame began with his defeat of the giant Goliath.

In the ensuing & extended transfer of power, David was often encouraged by Jonathan, a son of Saul, who loved God as much as David did.

LORD, please help us to love submitting to Your spiritual authority.

What friend encourages you to submit to God’s rule over your life?

(7) Judges, Ruth, 1 Samuel

The Promised Land

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How does God bless you for faithfully following Him? 

The last 2 books of Moses & a subsequent book by his successor Joshua (6) describe:

• How & why the Israelites wandered in the wilderness for 40 years,
• How God prepared the next generation of Israelites to serve him in the Promised Land we know as Israel, and
• How that next generation of Israelites took control of that Promised Land.

The first generation of Israelites, rescued from slavery in Egypt, was not permitted go into the Promised Land – because they failed to trust & depend on God.  They rejected God’s right to insist on their holiness, or total devotion to him alone. Instead, they preferred to do things their own way.  But two men of this generation, Joshua & Caleb, did trust God completely.

The second generation of Israelites, rescued from slavery in Egypt,  was permitted to enter & subdue the Promised Land – after being reminded of God’s expectations for their lives.  Moses encouraged them to do everything God’s way.

After the death of Moses, Joshua led the Israelite campaign to conquer the Promised Land.  First, with the surprising aid of a non-Jewish prostitute named Rahab, the Israelites miraculously captured the city of Jericho.

Subsequently, all the Promised Land was conquered.   However, not all the various  inhabitants of the land were driven out by the Israelites, as God had commanded; this failure would soon prove to be a serious self-inflicted problem for God’s chosen people.

Then, a home was granted to Caleb in Hebron, after which lands were granted to all twelve tribes of Israel (each descended from one of the twelve sons of Jacob).  Lastly, a home was designated for Joshua at Timnath.   Before his death, Joshua repeatedly encouraged the Israelites to serve God, with total devotion, in everything.

LORD, please help us to love faithfully following You.

How does God bless you for faithfully following Him? 

(6) Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua

Deliverance

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When has God delivered you from any sort of slavery?

Other books written by Moses (5) tell of the deliverance from slavery of God’s chosen people, the Israelites (also known as the Jews or the Hebrews).

Moses had been born among the Israelite slaves in Egypt; he was eventually called by God to lead the Israelites out of Egypt.  God accomplished their deliverance through a series of ten miracles, assuring his people of his complete protection.

The last miracle is the most familiar: God parted & held back the waters of the Red Sea so the Israelites could cross on dry land.  When the Egyptian army pursued them, God released the waters & the Egyptian soldiers were all drowned!

As the Israelites slowly made their way from Egypt toward the Promised Land (present-day Israel), God began to reveal to Moses how he expects his chosen people to represent him during our lives here on earth.

The Ten Commandments tell us that God expects us to worship him alone & to respect his authority, every minute of every day.  Thus we’re expected to honor our parents, respect human life, respect God’s plan for human sexuality, trust God for provision, be content with what God provides, and speak God’s truth in love — in all our relations with all other people.

In all the many other laws given to Moses for his chosen people, God insists on their holiness, which simply means that God expects us to be totally devoted to him, thereby being delivered from futile devotion to ourselves.

God provided the Israelites with a system of sacrifices & feasts to help them remember his expectation that we will live holy lives, set apart from this fallen world, even while we remain in this fallen world.

LORD, please help us to love becoming holy like You.

When has God delivered you from any sort of slavery?

(5) Exodus & Leviticus

In The Beginning

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How has trusting God helped you through hard times?

The earliest books of the inspired Jewish scriptures (4) reveal much to us about the nature of God & about His ways.

The story of Creation, with which Genesis begins, reveals God’s immense power — in creating everything, from absolutely nothing.  Before any scientific explanation of creation, there was God, the Uncaused Cause.

Genesis also reveals God’s immense love — in the creation of humans in his own image, so that we might be loved by him & that we might love him in return.

The story of Noah reveals that God has high expectations for his created people, that there are consequences for ignoring those expectations, but that God is well-pleased when we embrace those expectations.

The story of Job reveals that the immense power & love of God, and his ways with humans, are not always fully understood or even understandable by his people.  His ways are higher than our ways.

The story of Abraham reveals the supreme importance of trusting & obeying God, even when we are reluctant & do not fully understand what God is doing.

The story of Jacob reveals that God will bless those who surrender to him – even if that surrender is made in baby steps, over a very long period of time.

And the story of Joseph reveals that God is always in control.  He works his will, in our lives & in our world, even when we cannot see everything he’s planning & doing.

In all these stories, emphasis is given to the tremendous value of trusting God to accomplish his will, regardless of the uncertainty or the difficulty of our immediate circumstances.

LORD, please help us to love remembering that You have created us in Your image.

How has trusting God helped you through hard times?

(4) Genesis & Job

The Beginning & The End

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How have you been introduced to Jesus?

In the beginning, the inspired Jewish scriptures tell us, God created everything, from nothing (2).  In the beginning, in the Garden of Eden, our first parents, Adam & Eve, lived in an earthly paradise & knew only good.

 

But when they took a bite of the apple, in disobedience to God, they also began to know evil.

 

As part of their punishment for disobedience, God said they would experience many trials in their lives & would be opposed constantly by Satan.   Because Satan had influenced this turn of events, God said that he, too, would experience consequences — ultimately to include being crushed by a descendant of Adam & Eve, whom we know as Jesus.

Centuries later, about 65 years after Jesus left the earth to return to heaven, a close friend of his was inspired by the Holy Spirit to see that the end of time will be much like the beginning of time (3).  That is, many of the perfections of the Garden of Eden, described at the beginning of the inspired Jewish scriptures, will be restored & taken to new heights in the new heaven & the new earth, described at the end of the inspired Christian scriptures.

 

The inspired Jewish scriptures provide the background for understanding God’s plan to rescue humanity from the self-inflicted wounds of sin.  The story of God’s chosen people in these scriptures — from the first book of Genesis to the last book of Malachi — leads ultimately to Jesus.

LORD, please help us to love getting to know Jesus.

How have you been introduced to Jesus?

(2) Genesis 1-3

(3) Revelation 21-22

Invasion Of The Spirit

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How does the Holy Spirit typically invade your life?

For several hundred years, up until a point in time about 2,000 years ago, God had allowed the children of Israel to be exposed to many different cultures, including those of Iran, Turkey, Egypt, Libya, Italy, Greece & Arabia (1).  Jerusalem, the principal city of Israel, had become a very cosmopolitan city as a result.

At that time, the first Christian Pentecost occurred — 50 days after Jesus had risen from death & 10 days after He had returned to heaven.  On that Pentecost day, the believers (who would later be called Christians) gathered in Jerusalem to remember Jesus & to worship God & to draw close to Him in prayer.  Suddenly, the Holy Spirit of God invaded their fellowship — with the sound of a strong wind & the appearance of flames flickering over every person there!

 

As the Spirit gave them power, all the believers began speaking in many different languages & dialects, testifying boldly about how Jesus had changed their hearts & changed their lives!

When a large crowd of people gathered to learn the cause of this uproar, all of them were able to hear testimonies about Jesus in their own languages & dialects.  They were amazed that this common testimony about Jesus was being shared simultaneously by so many different people!

 

This amazes us today, too.  We want to know: What happened to these people?  How did Jesus change these people’s hearts & lives?

LORD, please help us to love being invaded by Your Holy Spirit.

How does the Holy Spirit typically invade your life?

(1) Acts 2:1-12

(The annual cycle begins again with meditations on God’s dealings with the children of Israel, from the inspired Jewish scriptures.  Please see the Welcome! page)

Who Is Jesus?

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Who do you say that Jesus is?

Jesus once asked His closest friends who He was to them (Matthew 16:15, Mark 8:29, Luke 9:20). Peter declared in reply that Jesus was the Christ, a Greek rendering of the Hebrew word, Messiah. This is the answer that Jesus was looking for. It means that, to Peter, the man Jesus was God in the flesh.

In his little book, The Pursuit of God, A. W. Tozer says that staying close to God is our highest & best life, now & forever. And he says that getting close to God is simply a matter of looking at Him — which is the most fundamental act of faith.

The apostle Paul provided Tozer’s inspiration when he wrote (2 Corinthians 3:18): And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. So, the simple idea is that the more we look at God, the more we become like Him.

God wanted to make this easier for us, so He came into history as the man Jesus. He came to us as one of us. He experienced all that we experience in life & death. And when Jesus returned to His home in heaven, God came to us as the Holy Spirit, through whom He remains ever present in our lives today.

Starting with the human is the easiest way for most people to connect with God. So the question that Jesus put to His closest friends is the question He puts to us: Who do you say that Jesus is?

 Peter’s answer drew him closer to God. Staying close to God was the work which consumed the rest of his earthly life. And so it is to be with each of us.

Look at Jesus, and keep on looking at Him. God is not hiding from you. God sees you, and God wants you to see Him.

Grab a Bible and start reading it. Find a friend to read with you. Ask questions. Dig for answers.

Above all, talk with God. Tell Him everything. Ask Him anything. Rely on His Spirit, day by day. Nothing delights God more than talking with you, day by day.

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This blog, Unexpected, helps me meditate daily on serving Jesus as my king.

 The annual cycle of meditations begins again tomorrow & will follow a pattern like that of previous years.

• For a little less than one month, there are meditations on the inspired Jewish scriptures, considering very briefly God’s dealings with men before the time of Jesus.

• For a little less than seven months, there are meditations about the life & ministry of Jesus himself, presented as a paraphrased chronological harmony of the four gospels.

• For a little more than three months, there are meditations on the history of the early church, presented as a paraphrased chronology, harmonized with brief summaries of letters written by early Christian leaders.

• Finally, for a little more than one month, there are brief meditations about select believers — who have lived to serve God, since the events described in the inspired scriptures.

LORD, please help us to love You.

Who do you say that Jesus is?

Tony Evans

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How will you serve Jesus as your King today?

Tony Evans was born into an American working class family in Baltimore, in the American state of Maryland, in the mid-20th century. When he was 10 years old, his father surrendered his life to Jesus; some months later his mother made a similar life-changing commitment. As young Tony grew during the next 10 years, he was profoundly influenced by the renewed faith of his parents. In high school, he frequently encouraged other students to trust Jesus & the Bible. But by the age of 20, Evans was also being influenced by the struggles of Black Americans for equal civil rights.

The combination of family faith and social struggle led Evans to reject the myth of Black inferiority, to appreciate the role of Black people in the Bible, and to appreciate the influence of African religious traditions on Black churches in America.

 

Ultimately, Evans became convinced that the Black evangelical church offers the clearest model of biblical Christianity in America, because of:

• its insistence on the link between love & justice,
• its emphasis on church as family,
• its emphasis on the expression of faith through good works, and
• its insistence that the purpose of the sacred is to invade the secular & transform it.

As Evans trained to serve God as a pastor, he was influenced by several Black mentors who helped him see the continuing need to present the good news of Jesus Christ in practical social terms, rather than in lofty theological terms.

Today, Tony Evans is a leading advocate for the Black evangelical church, characterized by insistence on:

• The authority of the Bible
• Developing members as ministers
• Evangelism linked with discipleship
• Racial reconciliation in the Body of Christ
• Personal responsibility of individual members, and
• Biblical justice

Evans consistently preaches the importance of serving Jesus as King — in our individual lives, in our families, in our churches and in our nation — referring to this as God’s Kingdom Agenda.

 

LORD, please help us to love serving You as our King.

How will you serve Jesus as your King today?

Martin Luther King, Jr.

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(Audio narration is accessible from the Post, by clicking the Forward button at left.)

What sort of martyrdom are you experiencing for the gospel of Jesus?

Martin Luther King, Jr. was born into the family of a Baptist minister in Atlanta, in the American state of Georgia, in the early 20th century.  King became a Christian minister after completing his college education.

With his wife, Coretta Scott, King became active in the civil rights movement in the United States in the early 1950’s.  For the last 15 years of his short life, Martin Luther King served as a leader & spokesman for Black Americans, who were being denied equal human rights as enjoyed by White Americans.

Based on his faith in the teachings of Jesus, King advocated non-violence in his campaigns for equal rights; he had learned this philosophy & strategy from the experiences of Mahatma Gandhi in India.  He insisted that his followers “turn the other cheek,” even when confronted with brutally violent opposition.  King’s  name is associated with non-violent civil rights campaigns in: Montgomery, Birmingham & Selma, in Alabama; New York City; Washington, D.C.; and Chicago, Illinois.

King’s “I Have A Dream” speech, which was given at a massive march on Washington in 1963,  has become a classic of American civil oratory.  In this speech, King famously proclaimed: Even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.  I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.’  I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

For combatting racial inequality through non-violent resistance,  Martin Luther King, Jr., received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964.  Then, in 1968, King was martyred at the hands of an assassin; he was 39 years old.  King is remembered as an architect of the 1968 Civil Rights Act, which was enacted into law later that year & which sought to right some of the social wrongs against which he had campaigned.

But Martin Luther King’s fondest hope was to be remembered as a man who tried to live as Jesus Christ commanded.

LORD, please help us love dying to ourselves as we live for You.

What sort of martyrdom are you experiencing for the gospel of Jesus?

Billy Graham

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(Audio narration is accessible from the Post, by clicking the Forward button at left.)

How do you typically tell someone the good news about Jesus Christ?

Billy Graham was born into a dairy farming family near Charlotte, in the American state of North Carolina, in 1918.  He became a committed Christian under the Bible teaching of Mordecai Ham when he was 16 years old.  As a young man, Graham felt called by God to preach the good news of Jesus Christ.  He was subsequently educated at several schools, eventually graduating from Wheaton College.  During his years at Wheaton, Graham decided to accept the Bible as the infallible Word of God; thereafter he never wavered in this commitment.

Also during his years at Wheaton, Billy Graham met & married Ruth Bell, who would support him in ministry for over six decades of marriage.  The couple had  five children, all of whom have been active in various Christian ministries.

In 1944, Graham began a radio preaching ministry in Chicago, accompanied by singer George Beverly Shea.  Subsequently, Cliff Barrows & others became significant partners in the ministry team as well.  In 1949, the team held its first major evangelistic preaching crusade in Los Angeles, California.  Originally scheduled for 3 weeks, interest was so great that the event continued for 2 months, featuring nightly gospel messages by Billy Graham.

During the next half-century, over 400 such evangelistic preaching crusades followed.  Aided by radio & television coverage, Graham spread the good news of Jesus around the world.  Millions of people heard the gospel & many thousands  became followers of Jesus — some for the first time, others returning to faith.  Graham’s evangelism was appreciated by both Protestants and Catholics, because he encouraged converts to become active members of their local churches.

Graham  provided spiritual counsel to 12 successive American presidents, from Harry Truman to Barack Obama.  He influenced public opinion on various major issues for more than five decades, always basing his views on the teachings of God as he found them in the Bible.  Some of his most influential views included his opposition to communism & apartheid and his support for racial integration.

Though audiences for his early crusades had been segregated by race, Graham gradually changed his views & began requiring integration of audiences.  Once he warned a white audience: “We have been proud and thought we were better than any other race, any other people. Ladies and gentlemen, we are going to stumble into hell because of our pride.”

Billy Graham went home to heaven in 2018, beloved & mourned by millions.

LORD, please help us to love telling people the good news about Jesus.

How do you typically tell someone the good news about Jesus Christ?